"I spent a lot of time on glasses at one point," he said. "And the issue for me is that the ones that were very immersive I would get a headache from.”

Jacobs points out that a certain percentage of people get headaches from immersive augmented reality, which could be a major issue for marketers.

“I think that any consumer product that’s giving a high percentage of people a headache is pretty hard to sell,” he said.

So what’s the alternative? Jacobs says Qualcomm will focus on smart watches rather than futuristic goggles. A few smart watches were showcased at CES and the concept could finally start to take off this year, but there’s still a lot of teething problems to work out.